Pavement preservation techniques placed were

• Fog seals (with and without rejuvenators),

• Crack seals (routing/filling, hot air lance, go-type),

• Chip seals (single, double, triple, scrub, FiberMat),

• Cape seals (on chip/scrub seals, FiberMat),

• Micro surfacing (single, double, Capes),

• Plant mix overlays (4.75 screening mix variations), and

• Ultra-thin bonded wearing courses, and lightweight aggregates for surface treatments.

Experiment contractors were Vance Brothers, Colas and E.D. Etnyre and Co. Instrumentation will document multi-depth pavement temperatures in each section, and records from the quarry will provide a comprehensive load history over the life of the experiment.

Pavement condition will be monitored on a weekly basis in order to determine the time and traffic needed to reduce pavement condition back to the pretreatment level. Because a distinct value will be produced for each test cell, 20 data points will define the shape of the life cycle curve for each preservation treatment.

Pavement Preservation Conference

At the August National Pavement Preservation Conference, 48 exhibitors and over 500 delegates from across the continent and around the world came together for a seminal event in the growing field of pavement preservation.

“For two years, your leadership at FP2 has been engaged with the staff of the National Center for Pavement Preservation to plan and develop this most important event in 2012 in pavement preservation,” said FP2 President Buckingham.

Better Roads’ editor-in-chief John Latta and contributing editor Tom Kuennen both participated in a panel on pavement preservation and public relations at the event.

Major pavement preservation partnerships uniting state and provincial road agencies held concurrent meetings. These included the Midwestern, Northeast, Rocky Mountain West, and Southeast Pavement Preservation Partnerships.

Plenary sessions set the stage for the conference to come. Then, seven topical “tracks” relevant to pavement preservation, asset management and pavement management featured 24 sessions spread over four days.

A hectic field demonstration held on the grounds of the Old Tennessee State Prison outside Nashville featured asphalt and concrete pavement preservation techniques such as chip seals, microsurfacing, scrub seals, surface re-texturizing, pavement rejuvenation, dowel bar load transfer retrofits, diamond grinding, and other innovative treatments.

Video of all presentations may be streamed, and materials downloaded, at http://nationalpavement2012.org/presentation-multimedia/.

Also, Bexar County, Tex., and the Tennessee DOT were honored for their pavement preservation programs with FP2’s James B. Sorenson Award for Excellence in Pavement Preservation. The Bexar County Public Works Department was honored with the Sorenson Award for 2012, and Tennessee DOT for 2011.

Receiving the award for Bexar County was Tony Vasquez, public works operations manager, for his work instituting asset management of county roads beginning in 2004, and subsequent pro-active pavement preservation practices to economically prolong the life of county roads.